Ladies and Gentleman,


This year marks a series of anniversaries that encourage debate on the place and role of Poland in Europe and the nature and directions of European integration. The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Communist regime bears particular significance for Poland and its people.

Solidarity, bravery and responsibility: these are the virtues that brought freedom to nations oppressed by totalitarian rule and paved the way for a new order in Europe. These principles inspired people to persevere in their determination to struggle for a Europe of fundamental social values: human and civil rights, freedom, right to a life of dignity and right to work. Indeed, the values of solidarity, bravery and responsibility were what ensured that this struggle – which reached its peak in 1980s – was waged using the force of argument rather than the argument of force.

Resistance against Communism in Europe would not have been possible without the combined efforts of many nations. Yet it was the bravery of Polish people in championing freedom, sovereignty, openness of mind and heart to another human being – as personified by the Solidarity movement and a sense of civic responsibility for future generations – that fuelled the collapse of Communism on the Old Continent in 1980s. The Round Table Talks and the region’s first democratic election on 4 June 1989 marked the birth of a new democratic Post-Cold War Europe, the end of totalitarian rule and the arrival of long-awaited freedom in Central Europe.

The anniversary celebrations and the political and cultural events accompanying them will provide an opportunity to promote our country. Poland is proud of its image of a country which loves, and wants to share, freedom. We believe that freedom and its underpinning values, namely solidarity, bravery and responsibility, are a quality mark of a united Europe, a stepping stone towards a common European identity.

Let us therefore manifest our joy and pride across the world in 2009 in keeping with the slogan “Freedom’89. Made in Poland”. ”.

Radosław Sikorski